Responsibility...

I look around me today and see so many youth that are not taking responsibility for them selves. I don't understand what is going on. When you leave high school you have a few choices: get a job, go to school, or get a job and go to school. So many youth are graduating high school and then doing nothing, or they graduate go to college for a few years then graduate or quit school and come home to do nothing. When you finish school you find a job in the field you studied OR you find any job (and keep looking for one in the field you studied).
There is another option after high school I didn't mention because for most it's not really an option, you could go the route I went. You get married to a wonderful man who can find and maintain a job that can support your family. I'm old fashioned, I believe that the man should work and the woman should stay home and raise the children, so a family should do everything they can to get to a point that they can do that.
When I graduated from High School I was already engaged to a wonderful man. We both knew that I was going to stay home and raise our children, but we also knew that we didn't have children yet and weren't having them until after we got married. Both of us got jobs, not the best jobs and they were only summer jobs, and Adam started school.  After that Adam got a job painting (still in school) while I began work at an oil testing lab. He later joined the company I was with and still continued his education in night school. A year into school (and one year before graduating) he got a job in his field of study, a job he maintains to this day. After that I was able to quit working for the oil testing lab and search full time for a new job, as Adam's job could support our family. I ended up working a few weeks at a call center, then I got a job as a receptionist and for an assisted living home. The assisted living home was only for 2 months so I kept working that at night while I worked days as a receptionist. All this time Adam and I tried to start a family. We decided finally that the drive to have a family was stronger then my need to work so I stopped working,  ideally we wanted to start our family and me to stop working to be almost the same time, but it didn't work out that way.
Now days I work full time at home, I don't have a job I get paid for but I love the job I have. I am a homemaker. I take care of our child (and eventually children), I keep the house clean, I cook dinner every night for my husband, I manage all our money, and generally I make it possible for us to accomplish things that seem impossible. My wonderful husband still works and now attends school at night again so that he can attain another degree and advance in work to a better job that will support a larger family easier. This is the way I personally think it should be, I feel it is a wonderful set up that everyone should strive to attain. I know that if you work hard and just set to a goal you can and will accomplish it. When I stopped working things were very tough, we didn't know how to live on one income yet. Then we were blessed with a wonderful child and still we hadn't yet perfected. Today I can say we are living this life very comfortably. We live on a tight budget and sometimes have to scrimp to save, but we are building a reserve. This life is not something we wish we could do, it is a choice we made and then found ways to accomplish it, we had to be responsible. It is a wonderful life that everyone can attain, but you must take it upon yourself to make the right choices and stand by your actions.

What I have learned as a mother so far...

My baby girl is nearly 9 months old and I've been taught so much.
I approached motherhood with a lot of knowledge I had gain through books, internet searches, and things other mothers had told me. I never thought that I knew it all, but I was pretty sure I knew more then enough. Oh how little I did know. My daughter teaches me every day things I never thought I'd know. 
For instance...
You can play hide and seek with a crawling baby really easily. First you get down on the floor and get really excited. Second you crawl. Third you turn around and make excited noises so that they'll follow you. Fourth you hide, but not in a tough place (or the dog food might distract your little one).
A trash can looks AMAZING! (as does a bucket that once contained and still has traces of fish water)
Paper is the best toy, it's flat, crinkled, folded, and soaked in drool... minutes and minutes of fun (nothing lasts hours)
Kitties are REALLY fluffy and that is VERY exciting, bunnies are even more exhilarating...
You can play too much
Flour is the best thing to play in
Babies aren't easily broken... not that I've checked too much, she just lets me know
And so so much more

kitty!

not too happy about the water

flour face

My little girl is very set in what she wants every day. She must have 2 naps a day, sometimes (most days) she wants 3 naps. If you're eating it you need to share with her, even if she's in no way hungry she wants a try. Naps now have one must have, a purple blanket, not sure when or how it happened but it did. She's really a happy baby, smiles so big and most of the time, but she gets very determined to do something and will yell if you're in her way.  I love her and all her little things she does. I'm so glad to have become a mother and to have the opportunity to raise a family in the crazy world we live in today.

The purple blanket...

How I Got Here

How did I become a "Small Town Homemaker?" So here's the story of the last few years of my life... the short version.
I grew up in a military family and we moved a lot. Then one day dad retired and we moved back "home" which happened to be this small town. This town isn't much of a town. It used to be much bigger years and years ago. Now we have a fire station, church, newspaper, small store, and post office (that's what makes us a town not a community, our post office). We had always come home between moves, but this time it was for good. I started school and met a boy...

The first day at the new school I sat down next to a gal I had met at church. Soon after Adam (my now husband) came into the classroom and informed me that I was in his seat. I didn't move and let him know that it was not his seat. (the former information is from his memory, I don't remember having taken his seat) A few weeks into school the young man turned around in his chair and asked me if I had a myspace account, I told him that I did (at that time) but that I never used it and he could e-mail me. I love how in this day people don't ask for your phone number, lol. After that we began talking online and he tried to ask me out. He asked me a few times if I would "go out with him" to which I replied when and where would you like to go. He was trying to ask me to be his girlfriend.  Eventually persistence paid off and we went on a date and I became his girl friend...

A year and 4 months (give or take) later we got married! We married and moved into a small apartment an hour from "home." He and I both worked at an oil testing lab and he went to school at night. Half way through school Adam got his current job as a Structural Drafter. We moved apartments once, I changed jobs, and then I stopped working. I became a full time homemaker, my job was to make our house a home. Then we moved back to our small town...

We started caring for a 26 acre property. Just under a year after moving to the country we became pregnant. What a day that was, since the day we got married we'd hoped for a family and we couldn't believe it had finally happened for us. The journey to becoming a mother was a rough road and one I'll tell you about later. Our little girl is so wonderful and I couldn't have ever asked for a better child. She's looks just like her father and I couldn't be happier.

Now we raise a beautiful baby girl, 28 chickens, 4 pigs, 2 cats, and a dog. This is  the life that I'd always hoped for. A loving husband that supports me, beautiful child, land, and time to make home a better place.

So this is blogging?

Months ago, when I was pregnant, a friend asked me if I had a blog. My thoughts were a what? Blog, I had heard about those before. That is where this adventure begins (in a way). I began looking at blogs, a few of my friends had blogs I had never paid much attention to... but I found myself pulled into them now and I became a blog stalker. Now, I give others the chance to stalk.

I'm not sure yet what this blog will be all about. I'll be letting you in my thoughts about life, about how motherhood and wife-hood are very becoming of me, and how life living on a "hobby farm" can be so exciting.